The Royal Automobile Club of Belgium will fund a fully-female rally National Team in the 2022 Clio Trophy Belgium via a selection process that will have in the jury rally legend Michéle Mouton.
There are initiatives that deserve to get worldwide attention with the hope that they will be replicated in other countries. One of them certainly is the project launched by the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium.
The RACB is in fact looking for the fastest Belgian female rally drivers and will fund a fully-female crew in the next Clio Trophy Belgium championship.
Every woman of Belgian nationality born between 01/01/1993 and 31/12/2003 is eligible for the RACB National Team selections, which will get underway in January.
The opening stage of the assessments will see the participants testing a production-model Renault Clio on the Bernister race track - the RACB Driving Academy facility - on 29th and 30th January. The young women will be evaluated by the RACB jury after and the top six candidates will advance into the next stage.
In February, the finalists will get behind the wheel of a Renault Clio Rally5 race car, with a female co-driver of their choice. The winning duo will become the new Belgian National Team and will win a funded deason in the 2022 Clio Trophy Belgium.
The Belgian RACB has been supporting the most exciting national talents for over 10 years, with cars in national colors being lined-up in both rally and track specialties: from touring cars to GTs, as well as single seaters. Famously, Stoffel Vandoorne raced under the RACB banner in his 2012 and 2013 World Series by Renault campaigns. The same programme brought Thierry Neuville at the top of rallying.
"In sport, whether they are competitions for amateurs or at the professional level, the female presence is increasingly important", said Geoffroy Theunis, General Manager of the National Team. "It is only normal that motorsport is also part of this development", he continued, highlighting the inspirational figure of current FIA Women In Motorsport Commission President Michéle Mouton in the world of rally competitions.
"This is the reason why we are launching a 100% female team."
Mouton won four world rallies and became vice-world champion in 1982 and will lead the jury during the RACB selections.
“We are delighted to be part of this initiative", added Karl Schuybroek, Communication Director of Renault Belgium. "High performance sport is all about commitment, passion and overcoming hardships. Qualities that are certainly not lacking in female athletes."
Registrations are open on the RACB National Team website and include an entry fee of 5€.
